It's a good day to be a Pirate.
One month after the Piratenpartei Deutschland (German Pirate Party) garnered enough votes to place 15 representatives into the Berlin Parliament, the group has another reason to celebrate. According to a recent poll, 10 percent of German voters said they would vote for the Pirate Party if Parliamentary elections were held now.
The German Pirate Party was added to the weekly poll in late September after a successful Parliament bid made it a legitimate political force. Denoted simply as "PIRATES" for the survey, the group has enjoyed small but consistent growth in that time frame; in just four weeks, it's added 3 percentage points.
Speaking to TorrentFreak, Pirate Party founder Rick Falkvinge called the accomplishment a "landmark event," adding that it requires "a metric ton of work" to earn mainstream acceptance.
Indeed, only three parties in Germany typically break the double-digit threshold among voters: the Christian Democratic Union (home to Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel), the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green party. In its short tenure, the Pirate Party has topped Dei Linke (the Left).
Falkvinge believes the global Pirate Party has evolved - and continues to evolve - to meet a changing world and changing perceptions.
"The Pirate Parties worldwide are in the process of going from 'party for tech people' to 'party that demands privacy, accountability and transparency, and support for a connected lifestyle,'" he explained. "This is a lifestyle that the oldparties don't live, and therefore, they don't - can't - understand it. This is going to change everything."
The German Pirate Party holds 15 regional Parliament seats, but has yet to break into the European Parliament or Bundestag. (via TorrentFreak)
